Use of imaging sensors in vehicle imaging systems is common and known. Examples of such known systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,949,331; 5,670,935 and/or 5,550,677, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
At present, the trailer angle (the angle of a towed trailer relative to the towing vehicle) is determined utilizing a target reference installed on the trailer tongue, where a rear camera of the towing vehicle locates this target pattern and the system estimates the trailer angle. But this method requires the user to install the target pattern sticker on the trailer tongue for each trailer and enter the distance measurements related to the location of the target pattern sticker. There are several issues associated with such an approach, including that the user may make measurement errors, the target pattern sticker may get dirty, and/or the user may forget to install the sticker.